Balcony guard rail for knockdown metal birdhouse

ABSTRACT

A balcony guard rail for a multicompartment birdhouse made of lightweight sheet metal. The compartments are arranged in rows which are stacked or tiered to provide multiple levels. The common floor for each row extends forwardly beyond the compartments to provide a balcony extending the length of a row of compartments. The balcony has a marginal upstanding flange its entire length and a plurality of like guardrail members are removably mounted on the flange end-to-end and releasably locked together to form a continuous guard railing along the length of the balcony. The balcony and guardrail members have cooperating slot and flange means for installing said rail members. The rail members have cooperating open-ended cylindrical formations at the upper end thereof for receiving an elongate locking rod member therein which interconnects the individual guard rail members to retain them in a continuous, rigid guardrail installation supported on the marginal flange of the balcony.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Arthur E. Vail 3,418,976 12/1968 Vail1 19/23 Griggsville, Ill. 3,478,722 1 H1969 Falcone et al. 1 19/23 PPNO- 844,463 Primary Examiner-Aldrich F. Medbery [22] med 1969 Atlanta-Silverman & Cass [4s] Patented Feb. 16, 1911 y [73] Assignee TrioManufacturing Co.

ABSTRACT: A balcony guard rail for a multicompartment birdhouse made oflightweight sheet metal. The compartments [54] BALCONY GUARD RAIL FORKNOCKDOWN are arranged in rows which are stacked or tiered to provideMETAL BIRDHOUSE multlple levels. The common floor i or each row extendsforschimsannwhg Figs. wardly beyond the compartments to provide abalcony extend ng the length of a row of compartments. The balcony has"9/23, a marginal upstanding flange its entire length and a plurality ofDES 30/3 like guardrail members are removably mounted on the flangeIll-n end-to-end and releasably locked together to form a continua 31/00Aolk 31/12 ous guard railing along the length of the balcony. Thebalcony no u 1 and guardrail have cooperating slot and flange DES 30/3means for installing said rail members. The rail members have 1 cooerating open-ended cylindrical formations at the upper [56] (was CM endthereof for receiving an elongate locking rod member UNITED STATESPATENTS therein which interconnects the individual guard rail membersRe, 25,878 10/ 1965 Vail 1 19/23 to retain them in a continuous, rigidguardrail installation sup- 3,367,632 21196 8 Vail. ported on themarginal flange of the balcony.

BALCONY GUARD RAIL FOR KNOCKDOWN METAL BIRDIIOUSE CROSS-REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of theInvention This invention relates generally to knockdown metal birdhousesof multiple compartment construction and more particularly, to animproved guardrail construction for the balcony of such a birdhouse. I

2. Description of the Prior Art The guardrail embodying the inventionengenders special advantages when used on birdhouses for purple martins,although same may be useful on birdhouses which attract other species ofbirds, as well. Martins, however, are recognized as such efficient andeffective destroyers of garden insect pests that their presence inresidential gardens to control insect population to the exclusion ofinsect sprays is very desirable. The martin is a gregarious'species andas is now known, will nest only in a multicornportment-type structurewhich is clean, namely, free from used nests, twigs and debris of otherbirds which may occupy a martin house after the martins have migratedfor the winter. Consequently, in order to attract the returning martinsyear after year, it is necessary to maintain the martins birdhouseproperly clean.

In returning each year to the birdhouse, the martin will propagate itsspecies, raising its young in the birdhouse. Obviously, when thefledglings are on the balcony outside of the nesting compartment, it isnecessary to have a protective barrier or fence at the margin or borderof the balcony which will prevent the young birds from inadvertentlyfalling from the balcony. It has been known to provide guardrail devicesfor such balconies which also serve as perches for mature birds. Acommon form of guardrail heretofore utilized consisted of an elongateperch rod attached to suitable upstanding posts in turn supported on thebalcony. The open space between the rod and the balcony floor or anupstanding marginal flange, if the same was provided, was large enough,frequently, for a small bird to squeeze through and inadvertently fallfrom the birdhouse.

Frequently, prior fence or guardrail constructions required the use ofmechanical fasteners for installing the same. These fasteners tended tobecome frozen in place after long exposure to the elements and hence,made it very difficult, if not impossible, to replace fence or railsections without damaging or destroying the entire construction or eventhe birdhouse. Further, where multiple sections of fence or guardrailmembers were employed, it was very difficult to realize a sufficientlyprotective, continuous fence or guardrail which was adequately rigid andstable in its vertical installation on the balcony.

The foregoing, as well as other, disadvantages are alleviated by theherein invention, which provides a guardrail member formed of sheetmetal capable of being removably mounted in vertical position on thebirdhouse balcony in a stable, interlocked arrangement with a pluralityof like guard rail members. The guardrail member has an uppercylindrical formation which provides a stable perchfor a bird. Thecylindrical formation is open at opposite ends thereof so that a groupof said members, arranged end to end, have their formations in registryto provide a continuous passageway into which may be inserted anelongate rod for releasably locking the guardrail members into acontinuous guardrail or fence on the balcony. The guardrail members andbalcony have releasable interlockable means for removably installingsaid rail members in operative position on the balcony.

Additionally, the guardrail member is: economical to manufacture bywell'known mass production sheet metal working techniques to provide asturdy and highly efficient guardrail or fence construction for such aknockdown metal birdhouse. Further, the guardrail member is easily andreadily installed and removed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elcvational view of aknockdown multicompartment metal birdhouse having a guardrailconstruction embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a birdhouse and partiallyexploded to show individual guardrail members of the inventioninstalled.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG.1 and in the direction indicated generally.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing, inFIG. I, a birdhouse of generally knockdown sheet metal construction withwhich the guardrail embodying the invention is especially useful isdesignated generally by the reference character 10. The birdhouse 10 ismounted on a pole 12, shown partially, and as is known in the art, meansfor raising and lowering the birdhouse (not shown) can be provided forfacilitating cleanout thereof. The illustrated house 10 has a pair ofstacked or superimposed tiersl4 of nesting compartments and a peakedroof section I6 which may be removable for adding tiers of compartments,as desired.

The general construction of a tier [4, insofar as understanding theherein invention is concerned, includes a floor designated generally 18which may be of one-piece construction or of a plurality of floorsections suitably fastened together. As seen in FIG. 1, each tier I4 iscomprised of a row of three nesting compartments, the access door toeach of which is designated 20. Each door20 has an access opening 22 tothe interior of the compartment. In the case of the pair of stackedtiers 14 illustrated, the floor 18 of the uppermost tier also forms theceiling for the nether tier of compartments. For purposes of clarity,the floor of the nether tier of compartments will be designated 18aAlthough not shown, it will be appreciated from said US. Pat. No. Re.25,878 that there also may be provided a rowof nesting compartmentsfacing in a direction opposite to the row of compartments of each tier18, 18a illustrated, that is, a row of compartments back to back witheach row shown in FIG. 1. Also. their can be a row of nestingcompartments facing outwardly from each side of the birdhouse 10, thatis, facing left and right, as viewed in FIG. 1 and a row may have moreorless than three compartments.

In each instance, the floor 18 or 18a protrudes forwardly beyond eachrow of compartments in the tier 14 concerned such that a porch orbalcony section 24 is provided, as seen in FIG. 2, which can becontinuous around the perimeter of the birdhouse, or on less than allsides thereof, as desired. The margin of the floor section 24 isupwardly bent to provide an upstanding marginal or border flange 26along the entire length of said floor and hence, substantiallycoextensive with the length of the row of compartments beyond which itprotrudes. Spaced inwardly of the bend 28 is a row of uniformly spacedslots 30, of which one is seen in FIG. 2, there being at least one suchslot 30 for each guardrail member embodying the invention which isdesignated generally by the reference character 32.

The guard rail member 32 preferably is a thin gauge sheet metalstructure which can be stamped from continuous webs of sheet metalpassed through a punch press or other mass production machine. Themember 32 has a generally rectangular open-lattice body panel 33 havinga continuous strip 34 along one longitudinal margin thereof. Theopposite longitudinal margin has a cylindrical open ended formation 35like a tube which may be integrally formed or otherwise providedthereon. The lateral edges 36 each have an inwardly facing right-angleflange 37 integral therewith and extending from the cylinder formation35 to the marginal strip 34. There is an inwardly facing, right-angleflange 38 connected along the strip 34 for its entire length, saidflange 38 having a tongue 39 integral therewith and intermediate theends 40 thereof. As seen in FIG. 2, the body 33 is open except for thepair of crossed strips 44 in the open space thereof connecting thecylinder 35 to the strip 34. The crossed strips 44 cooperate to preventa young bird from falling through the open body 33.

Along the opposite longitudinal edge 45 of the strip 34, is provided achannel formation defined by an L-shaped flange 46. Said flange has ashort leg 47 which is connected to the strip 34 and a longer leg 48which is spaced from and parallel to said strip 34, giving rise to thechannel 50 opening toward the flange 38.

Referring to FIG. 3, the rail member 32 is mounted on the floor section24 by engaging the flange 46 over the edge 45 of the strip 34 so thatthe rail member 32 is supported on the upper edge 45. The tongue 39 canbe engaged through the slot 30 from the bottom face of the floor section24, it being necessary to crimp the tongue 39 medially as indicated at51 so that the lead rounded end 52 of the tongue is engaged flush on theupper face of the floor section 24, thereby locking the rail 32 inposition.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that a row of such rail members 32are installed end to end along the marginal flange 26 of the floorsection 24. Each adjacent pair of rail members 32 will have abuttinglateral flanges 37 which assist in rigidifying the structure. Further,to lock the rail members in their installed position, there is providedan elongate cylindrical locking bar 54 which can be matingly engagedthrough the aligned open ends of the cylinders 35 of the rail members 32arranged end to end on the floor section. Obviously, where it is desiredto remove a rail member for any reason, one will withdraw the lockingrod 54, bend back the lead end 52 ofthe locking tongue 39 so that thetongue can be withdrawn from the slot 3O and the rail member 32thereafter lifted from the marginal flange 26. As seen in FIG. 3, thespacing between leg 48 and edge strip 34 is slightly larger than thethickness of the edge strip 34 so that the marginal flange 26 is tightlyreceived in the channel 50.

It is believed that the invention has been sufficiently described toenable the skilled artisan to practice the same. Minor variations in theconstruction and proportion of the parts of said guard rail may occur tothe skilled artisan within the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the claims appended hereto.

lclaim:

1. In a multicompartment birdhouse made of lightweight sheet metal inwhich compartments are arranged in stacked rows and there is a floor foreach row of compartments which extends beyond the compartment row toprovide a balcony, said balcony having an upstanding marginal flange atright angles thereto, a plurality of like guardrail members mounted endto end on said marginal flange to provide a continuous upstanding guardrailing, said balcony having a'row of spaced slots adjacent the marginalflange, each guardrail having a longitudinal strip along one marginallongitudinal edge thereof having a right-angle flange and an L-shapedflange secured along opposite edges thereof all facing in the samedirection,

said L-shaped flange forming a channel opening toward the right-angleflange, said right-angle flange having a protruding tongue intermediatethe ends thereof, each rail having an open ended enlarged formationextending the length thereof along its opposite marginal longitudinaledge, the marginal flange being engaged in said channel formations andthe tongues removably secured in said slots with the enlarged formationsaligned one with the other in a continuous row, and a locking barremovably secured in said row of formations for rigidifying I theplurality of guardrail membersin their installed position.

2. In a birdhouse as described m claim 1 in which said en-

1. In a multicompartment birdhouse made of lightweight sheet metal in which compartments are arranged in stacked rows and there is a floor for each row of compartments which extends beyond the compartment row to provide a balcony, said balcony having an upstanding marginal flange at right angles thereto, a plurality of like guardrail members mounted end to end on said marginal flange to provide a continuous upstanding guard railing, said balcony having a row of spaced slots adjacent the marginal flange, each guardrail having a longitudinal strip along one marginal longitudinal edge thereof having a right-angle flange and an L-shaped flange secured along opposite edges thereof all facing in the same direction, said L-shaped flange forming a channel opening toward the right-angle flange, said right-angle flange having a protruding tongue intermediate the ends thereof, each rail having an open ended enlarged formation extending the length thereof along its opposite marginal longitudinal edge, the marginal flange being engaged in said channel formations and the tongues removably secured in said slots with the enlarged formations aligned one with the other in a continuous row, and a locking bar removably secured in said row of formations for rigidifying the plurality of guardrail members in their installed position.
 2. In a birdhouse as described in claim 1 in which said enlarged formations are cylindrical in configuration.
 3. In a birdhouse as described in claim 2 in which each guardrail member has an open lattice configuration between said enlarged formation and the strip thereof.
 4. In a birdhouse as described in claim 1 in which said tongue is deformable and has a portion thereof on opposite sides of said balcony.
 5. In a birdhouse as described in claim 2 in which said locking bar is a cylindrical rod. 